TA’ing a Community Engaged Learning Course: Exploring the Roles, Tension Points and Opportunities for Professional Development

Event Date & Time

Event Description

In this session we will introduce community engaged learning (CEL) as a growing teaching strategy here at UBC.  We discuss what community engaged learning is, its principles, and the role of TAs in relation to instructor(s), student(s) and community partners/stakeholders.  We will explore the complexities, richness and challenges of these roles, and through discussion, activities and roleplay, we will enhance participants’ understanding of and skills that TAs can apply in community engaged courses.  

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this session participants will;

• Be able to describe the principles of community engaged learning (CEL)
• Develop awareness of the various roles of a CEL TAs that go beyond grading and assessment
• Identify and practice the different skills of a successful CEL TA
• Identify opportunities for professional growth in their own practice as a CEL TA.

Register and attend this workshop in order to complete the following theme(s):

• Teaching and Learning Spaces
• Experiential Learning

Facilitators:

• Colin Dring, PhD student, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
• Kyle Nelson, Community-engaged experiential learning officer, Centre for Community Engaged Learning

TA Institute

The TA Institute is open to any Graduate Student who is interested in teaching or TAing, and includes sessions on Teaching and Learning Theory, Scholarship, Classroom Strategies, Campus Climate, and Lesson Design. If you have interest in becoming a better TA, or get a head start preparing for teaching in your career, sign up for one or more of these 2 hour, interactive workshops.

This year, workshops in the TA institute are organized into 5 themes, and if you complete 3 workshops in a theme, and do the related pre & post institute online module, you are eligible for a letter of completion that you can include in your Teaching Portfolio and C.V. These letters will include a brief description of any themes that you completed, and how the work you did in those themes supports your development as a teacher.

The themes are:

• Teaching Skills
• TA Wellness
• Teaching and Learning Spaces
• Experiential Learning
• Teaching with Technology